Arata Osaki
Arata Osaki (荒田大崎, "fresh great cape"), more commonly known as The Dark Side of the River, is a prominent smuggler and missing-nin aiding the Streams' Rebellion Force in their war with the trade barons and Daimyō of the Land of Rivers. A member of the Osaki clan, and native of the Land of Hot Water, Arata has had an illustrious career working in the underbelly of the world outside the Five Great Shinobi Nations' grasp. A man with luxurious tastes and the curiosity of a child, Arata has a devotion to seeing all the world has to offer, while also protecting the small nation that opened his mind and heart to eternal pursuit. Background Early Life Arata was born some 80 years after the Fourth Shinobi World War. The circumstances regarding Arata's familial origin are not too unusual given the time period. During the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, many ninjas from the lands adjacent to the Land of Fire and Land of Lightning chose to participate in the battle against the Akatsuki. Shigeru Osaki was one such soldier who left his native Land of Rivers at the age of 16 to fight on behalf of Konoha, being placed in the 3rd Division. He fought valiantly in the Land of Hot Water, but was forced to desert after most of his squad was killed in a skirmish with the White Zetsu army. After roaming the Hot Water nation for several years, Shigeru eventually settled down in a large, luxurious town near Yugakure, setting up a medical practice there. He would marry a native of the Land of Hot Water, Sakiko Akagi, and produce 5 children: Kenta, Terou, Daichi, Manami, and Ayame. While each of Shigeru's kids would go on to achieve great things in business and such, Kenta stood out among his siblings for being the only one to continue the shinobi tradition. He went on to serve in the newly reformed Yugakure ninja force, which was fighting a rebellion in the northern provinces started by Jashin adherents. After a successful career fending off the last of the radicals, Kenta settled down along the tropical coasts of the Hot Water nation and lived with his sister Ayame. He married Bunko Fujiwara, a self made businesswoman operating coastal resorts south of Yugakure. They had 4 children: Naoki, Akira, Taro, and Arata. Arata's childhood was uncomplicated and happy. His family lived on a large estate near the center of a bustling city that attracted many across the continent. With his brother and sisters, Arata was constantly playing and in a state of motion, letting his imagination roam free as they played throughout the massive gardens. Since many of his cousins lived in the same area along the coasts, Arata was also in continual contact with people his own age. However, as he left the ages of 4, 5, and 6 and transitioned into his seventh year, Arata became increasingly interested in the world outside the walls of his home. While the opulence of the Land of Hot Water's coasts never ceased to interest the boy, he had an undeniable urge to see something he'd never seen before. This led him to become an aggressive reader. Whenever he was not roughhousing with his older brother and teasing his baby cousins, he read voraciously, consuming book after book about wars, treaties, cultures, and people from both the past and present. By his ninth year, he made it a habit of using the basic skills he was learning at the Yugakure ninja Academy to slip out of the home and experience the cosmopolitan nightlife that surrounded him. It was during these night trips that Arata would become the intelligent, well read man most people know him to be. Nobles, merchants, diplomats, and even ninja would come to the city and after frequent harassment from the lively boy, share their stories of travel and adventure. These tales inspired Arata to ask to be sent to the Land of Rivers at the age of 10 at Aunt Manami's house. She managed a shipping company that transported a variety of goods from all over the ninja world along the majestic rivers that cut through the nation. Arata's dream was to ride those boats to every country in the known world. After his frequent complaining to his parents, he was sent to Tanikagure to live with his aunt Manami, under the condition he graduate from the village Academy and complete several missions before he travelled on the rivers. Time in Tanigakure Tanigakure was everything that Arata expected and more. While it lacked the wealth of the Land of Hot Water's tropics, it had what he calls "an honest prosperity", built on riparian industry and trading. It was more diverse, and a melting pot of people and cultures from nearly every major nation. His initial days would be spent riding a small row boat with his two cousins Harou and Jun along a small stream that flowed through the village. They would fish and swim for hours at a time, enjoying each other's company until it was time to return home. With his cousins and local friends he'd made, Arata would frequent the famous Kin Docks, a major inland port in Tanigakure home to hundreds of cargo ships transporting billions of ryō worth of goods and services every year. They would often fantasize of what it would be like to manage or defend a ship from Jashin rebels or pirates. However, in accordance with the promise he made to his parents, Arata never dared to break into one of those ships until he became a Chunin. Arata was an average student of the Academy, graduating at the age of 9. Placed in Team Hikari, he performed well with his teammates Kunio Matsushita and Takeo. Arata possessed an accomplished understanding of ninjutsu and genjutsu. However, his taijutsu skills were severely lacking. He often reported to the nurses immense fatigue and headaches after training or missions. Many of his teachers and peers took note of the young boy's physical ineptitude, labeling Arata a "city rat" or "golden chicken". Even his genin squad-mate Kunio Matsushita took to mocking the ill boy's physical ineptitude. By the age of 11, the progression of the weakness and headaches, as well as new symptoms of projectile vomiting and itchiness made most of his fellow genin think Arata was going to die. Many did not think he would even live long enough to see the beginning of the Chunin Exams to be held in Iwagakure. However, after being sent to the Osaki Clan Temple inside Tanigakure, a cousin of Arata revealed that he was suffering from the maturation of the Miasma Release kekkai genkai in his body. Kame Osaki, Arata's cousin, intelligently said that the Miasma Release is a special kekkai genkai that activates itself at about the same time as the onset of puberty, causing immense sickness in the wielder at first, either killing them, or mellowing down and applying itself as a weapon. However, the Miasma Release was exceedingly rare even among the Osaki, appearing only a handful of times every generation. As a result, there were no resident Miasma Release users who could help get Arata through the harsh days and nights to come. Arata was determined to not only survive the kekkai genkai, but tame it and use it as a weapon in the upcoming Chunin Exams. Despite the pain, he traveled to another temple of his royal clan, bringing Kame with him. The two read the ancient texts that showed them how to make powerful tonics and potions to alleviate the pain and focus Arata's growing power. During this time, Kame taught her budding student the basics of Water Release, which would amplify the increasingly powerful miasmas Arata was generating. Arata's training significantly helped his health. By the time the exams were nearing, he could go toe to toe with even the best of taijutsu users in his generation, earning him respect from many of his classmates. In many cases, this basic respect turned into a deep friendship as is the case of the camaraderie between Arata and Koji Kubota. Both possessed an amazing amount of skill for their age, and had an admiration for one another, reflective of the relationship their two clans have. As the months passed by, Arata's powers grew exponentially. With each passing day, the blasts of diseases and death became increasingly destructive. As members of the Osaki clan, Kame and the others who had taken to helping Arata train had partial immunity to these waves of disaster. However, the clan elders, recognizing the particular potency of Arata's powers and the damage they could do to non-Osaki, officially took him out of the Academy for private training in Osaki territory to ensure no villagers would be hurt. With less than 2 weeks until the Graduation ceremony for the soon-to-be Chunin, Arata found himself begging for the opportunity to travel to Iwagakure and compete in the exams. Ultimately, the head of the clan, the aging and ill Yukio Osaki, agreed to allow Arata to participate on the condition that he defeat him in single, ritualistic combat. That afternoon all clan members in the various compounds of the Osaki were assembled to see the match. A few seconds later, Arata was lying on the floor writhing in pain as blindness and boils came over his body, Yukio standing victorious. Arata's failure to secure his elders' blessings led him to sneak out of the clan's compounds and join his class on the trip to Iwa. The elders of the clan determined sending a team after Arata would cause an international incident for Tanigakure and allowed the genin to make his way to the exams. The delegates from Tanigakure, in particular Team Hikari, performed marvelously at the Chunin Exams, with all surviving genin becoming Chunin. Upon receiving his official flak jacket and attending the congratulatory ceremony, Arata signed up for the opportunity to become a guard on a trading vessel intending to travel to the Waterfall Village. Mission to the Waterfall